Faux Glow

I don't know if it because I have had better behaving skin recently or if I am just over my matte skin phase but recently I have been ditching my mattifying primers and embracing the glow-faux glow though obviously.

I can't take credit for inventing this winning combination, I saw Allana Davison use it in one of her youtube videos.  I realised I owned both products-the MAC Strobe Liquid for absolutely ages but unloved and unused, and the Josie Maran Argan Enlightenment Illuminizer was a recent purchase from Sephora in LA.

Both are non silicone based multi-purpose products-they can be mixed with creams and foundations to add a hint of glow or used as primers or spot highlighters.  MAC Strobe Liquid is a light white/violet pearl liquid illuminator without shimmer.  I've owned it for ages but it was gathering dust.  I used to love it so much so I am glad to be using it again daily.  It contains green tea and antioxidants for a dose of vitality.

Josie Maran Argan Enlightenment Illuminizer is a golden metallic liquid-it's slightly heavier in texture than the Strobe Liquid and looks like liquid gold.  It contains Argan Oil to nourish the skin and even the skintone.

I mix one pump of each and then apply as a primer before my foundation.  It gives an immediate golden, slightly metallic (but in no way glittery) glow, blurs imperfections on the skin and leaves a soft focus finish.  Yes it's a tad too much to be worn alone but with foundation over the top the golden metallic finish goes but the skin has extra life, extra vitality.  I'm still all about the full coverage base-I have been using this with Estee Lauder DoubleWear and I am addicted to the result.

What's your favourite faux glow product?

My MAC lip liner collection

More of a pictorial post today than a straight review but it's in response to a request for a post about lip liners from one of the sweetest girls who reads my blog, Stephanie.

I have definitely gotten more and more into lip liners in the couple of years and have amassed a collection of MAC liners.  My collection isn't exclusively MAC but I thought I would start with a MAC post as they represent the lions share and then do a follow up with my other liners if it's of interest.

By far I have most of the MAC Lip Pencils-there are a massive 41 shades in the range and they retail for $16.50/£12.50.  The beauty of a lip pencil is you don't just need to use it to line your lips-often I fill in my whole lip then just add a gloss over the top.  Of if you want a truly matte lip, filling the whole lip with the lip pencil is a great way to go.

My first ever MAC lip pencil was Spice and I was about 17!  My 'going out' lip was always Spice liner all over the lips and then topped with a MAC purple glittery gloss (I wish I could remember the name but I am sure it's discontinued now).  I was obsessed with the vanilla scent of the gloss and it's literally the scent of my late teens!

I actually do not think that the MAC Lip Pencils are the best out there.  There's certainly something for everyone but I find the formula quite stiff and harsh to apply.  I recommend blunting and warming the tip of the liner on the back of your hand before applying it.  But once on they don't slip or slide around and they keep your lipstick inside the lines.  My very favourites are Redd and Beet-perfect and necessary for nailing that bold lip.

But my favourite liners from MAC are the Pro Longwear ones.  Slightly more expensive at $20/£15 but they're so worth it.  Much creamier, they glide on the lips rather than drag like the lip pencils.  The formula is softer yet still firm enough to draw a sharp line and the lasting power is incredible.  But then everything I have tried from the Pro Longwear range is...the clue is in the name I guess.  More to Love is my favourite and I always pair it with any bright pink I am wearing.  I definitely want need to try more of these.

If you're looking to expand your make up repertoire by adding lip pencils then I definitely recommend MAC as a good place to start!

I'd love to know what your favourite lip liners are?  Am always looking to be enabled!

MAC Extra Dimension eyeshadows-they're back and permanent!

Surely MAC's most instagrammable eyeshadows ever?  MAC Extra Dimension eyeshadows are the most amazing formula and now they're back and permanent!  I had a very impromptu splurge on the above five because basically I am weak and they are shiny.

They're beautiful to look at but thankfully they're not style and no substance-the formula is one of the very best I have tried.

MAC describe the formula as a liquid-powder and the shadows are packed with pigment with a metallic finish.  They're incredibly reflective yet don't contain any glitter or microshimmer.  The formula is incredibly smooth and a delight to blend and I just love them.  I wish MAC did palettes of this formula!  They're not dissimilar to the NARS Dual Intensity eyeshadows but I do think the MAC formula has the edge.

The pigment can be intensified by using them wet-this amps up the metallic foil like finish.  I spritz my brush with MAC Fix Plus (newest purchase and addiction) and use the damp brush to pat the shadow onto my lids.  

Have you tried these eyeshadows?  Do you love them as much as I do?

New lipstick shades from MAC!! Little Buddha and Pickled Plum

Short and sweet post today.  New MAC lipstick shades make me happy!  I have every MAC lipstick from the permanent range that I want to own so newly launched shades make my heart race that little bit faster.

These two are from the 'Cremesheen Pearl' range and to the best of my knowledge these are permanent.  The Cremesheen formula has always been my most favourite MAC formula for it's luminous bold colour.  Cremesheen Pearl is sheerer but buildable and infused with tiny pearlized pigments.  It's less forgiving on dry lips so moisturise well.

I've started with two shades from the range......

Little Buddha is a sheer pale but face brightening pink.  Pickled Plum is more of a sheer blue based hot pink.  I love both.

Now I know they're permanent I have Star Magnolia, Pretty Boy and Sweet Sakura on my shopping list!

PS-I am thrilled to have been nominated for 'Best International Beauty Blog' in the Bloggers Blog Awards-you can vote for your favourites here.  Massive thanks to Hayley from Tea Party Beauty for all her very hard work with these awards!

MAC Matte Lip 2015 Releases

Once a year for the past couple of years, MAC has launched shades in their retro-matte lipstick range. And aside from Satins, MAC's Mattes are my favorite lipstick texture from them. It's not that Cremesheens, Lustres, Dazzle Lipsticks, and Frosts are not nice. It's just that MAC does matte so much better than most other brands. 



Maybe I'm biased because MAC's mattes are some of the first

MAC Eyeshadow Times Nine Palette Swatches

MAC's launching four Eyeshadow Times Nine palettes at Sephora ION on 27 June, 3 July at other counters, and these nifty compact palettes have nine small 0.8g pans (a tiny bit more than half of a regular 1.5g MAC shadow) of shades in the permanent line. If you're new to MAC and interested in trying a cross-section of shades without paying a ton of money for 9 full-size shades, this is nice and

MAC Le Disko Collection Swatches and First Impressions

MAC’s Le Disko Collection is about to hit Singapore (3 July at all counters except Isetan Scotts), and I hear Robinsons MAC Counters will launch these a week early - so today, 25 June - if you can't wait until next week. I will say right now that if you love color and sparkle, you will LOVE this ultra sparkly, uber-glam collection.






Ironically, I’ve never been the biggest fan of

MAC is Beauty Collection Swatches

The sugary girly MAC is Beauty collection launches 24 April in Singapore, and has a ton of gorgeous color products including 16 Fluidline gel liners, and 12 lipsticks. Perfect for those of us who like a simple swathe of liner and a pop of color on the lips.









Firstly, I apologize for the less-than-perfect liner swatches. There wasn't any brush available where I previewed the products

MAC Julia Petit Eye Shadow x 2 in Sagu

I was fooling around with some of the items from the Julia Petit collection, and decided to do a look with one of the eye duos.The 2 colors in Sagu are Druzy (Luster) and Black Plum (Matte).I'm not usually a fan of Luster shadows; in fact with the exception of Tempting, I think they're incredibly troublesome to work with. So I wasn't entirely sure if I would like any of the eye duos in this

MAC Philip Treacy Collection

MAC's Philip Treacy collection features just 3 key groups of products. 



A blush colored high-light powder, 3 deep, rich lipsticks and ultra bright cream eye colors. 



But I know everyone goes ga-ga over the blush-pink High-light Powder (SGD$53) first. I did as well.













This is an ultra-fine matte highlight powder in a soft lingerie pink. The texture is not pearlescent or

MAC Bao Bao Wan Collection Highlight - Bao Bao's Jewels Veluxe Pearlfusion Shadow

The MAC x Bao Bao Wan collection is a mix of shimmering metallics and clashing opaque costume jewelry tones. Among all the loud, neon, fun, and - dare I say "trash over class" - shades designed in collaboration with the Chinese socialite-cum-jewelry-designer, there IS one item which stands out as being quite chic and universally appealing.



MAC Bao Bao Wan nail lacquers






MAC Bao Bao

MAC Cinderella Makeup Look: A Sultry Twist

The MAC Cinderella collection looks all princess-y and soft; but if you take a closer look at the color tones and textyres, the combination is actually rather sultry and Bardot-esque. 



So - as usual - I'm going to be all contrary, and do a sexy glistening smoky eye with the collection (whereas I did a rather subtle look with the Toledo collection). 




MAC Cinderella collection look,

MAC Toledo Makeup Look: Moodyblu Palette and Oxblood Matte Lipstick (plus Toledo swatches part 2!)

MAC x Toledo is one of the most colorful collections of the season, with lots of intense blues, violets, lime greens, violets and rich deep reds. So it was a bit of a challenge for me when I decided I wanted to create a softer, more wearable everyday look with some of the items in the collection.

It's quite wearable and neutral for the most part, but I chose to keep a pop of very intense

MAC Cinderella Swatches

Oh, hi there.

Been a while, huh? Yeah. I've totally neglected the blog for a while now. I've had so many ideas... So many products to share... So many videos that should've had an accompanying post. 

But sometimes, life gets busy and that stuff just doesn't work out. Sometimes you just don't feel like doing...stuff. So that's been the past few months for me in this blogland.

I'm excited to start posting again.  Well, by "start posting again" I mean according to my own non-schedule where this blog is concerned. I've never been super structured with this place like I am on my YouTube channel.  I just like to post here when I want about what I want. But I've missed it like crazy!! Feels good to be back. So here we go...

MAC Cinderella

Available online February 26, 2015

Available in-store March 5, 2015 through April 16, 2015

I love MAC. I love Disney. I love Cinderella. She was pretty much the first Disney princess I fell in love with as a child. So when I got this collection from MAC, I was super excited. Like jumping up and down in the kitchen excited.

So here ya go... All the photos and swatches of the products I received from this collection. I've got a video coming up soon all about my actual thoughts and little reviews on each product after actually using them.  So look out for that coming up soon on my YouTube channel!

Until then, here are the swatches:

Iridescent Powder in Coupe D'Chic $28.

Beauty Powder in Silver Dusk $28. (In the product info, it says the only Beauty Powder in the collection is supposed to be called "Mystery Princess" and is described as nothing like this one. Maybe it's a mistake? Not sure which is the mistake though... so that's awesome.)

left: Coupe D'Chic, right: Silver Dusk

Eye Shadow x 6 / Stroke of Midnight $44.

Vapour, Phloof!, Omega, Quarry, Satin Taupe, Stroke of Midnight

Glitter in Reflects Pearl $23., Pigment in Pretty it Up $24

MAC Studio Eye Gloss in Lightly Tauped $23.

Lipstick in Royal Ball $17.50

Lipglass in Glass Slipper $16.50

Studio Fix lash in Boldblack $19. 

So what do you guys think?? There are a few more items from this collection that I don't have, but this is pretty much the gist. 

Will you be picking up any items from this collection? What do you have your eye on?

Products provided for consideration by MAC Cosmetics with no agreements or obligations to feature or review.

MAC Toledo Collection: Swatches Part 1 and First Impressions!

MAC's collaboration with Isabel and Ruben Toledo is probably one of the most fun and eye-catching makeup releases of the entire 2015 Spring season. You can imagine I spent HOURS just taking product shots and swatches. I'll also be doing some looks as soon as I can, so stay posted!



First off, the collection features the following. (Please note there are a couple of items which are

MAC Lightness of Being collection-my picks

I have to admit I struggle to keep up with the seemingly constant MAC launches and if I do pick up anything from the limited edition collections I don't tend to blog about it as they sell out by the time I have received it.  But I think the new Lightness of Being collection is worth a mention especially as it is still available online and in store.

Here are my picks:

I picked up the two Mineralize blushes (£21)-the bright pink 'Please Yourself' and the coral toned 'Uplifting'.  I love the embossed pattern on the blushes.

My experience in the past of Mineralize blushes is that they are on the more shimmery/metallic side and I have made a few impulse purchases I have regretted later but luckily these two don't cause me any feelings of regret.

They both have an overlay of glitter over them which comes away with a couple of brush strokes but you can see it quite clearly in the pan of Please Yourself.  Please Yourself swatches as a bright but cool toned pink but on the cheeks gives a wonderful light sheen-similar to Estee Lauder Cheek Gelee in Tease if you missed out on that blush.  It is a little on the frosty side and you don't need to use a highlighter with this blush.  I have been reaching for it a lot though the past couple of weeks.

Uplifting looks and swatches very coral but actually there is a tan shade running through it that is most prevalent on my cheeks.  After a couple of uses the shimmer dies away but there is prevalent silver glitter as you can see from the blush on my face below.  If you're looking for a coral blush though, this definitely runs more tan on my skin (which is NW15 for reference)

I also picked up two of the Mineralize eye shadows (£17) from the range of 6 launched.

Force of Nature is a beaut!  Again I have had some real misses in the past buying MAC mineralize eye shadows as they have proved to be quite poorly pigmented but Force of Nature has great pigmentation.

The shadows have two halves and the pattern reminds me of a cable knit jumper.  The two halves are very similar in shade but are described as having two different finishes-a frost and a pearl.  I don't think it's immediately obvious when you use them which is which but the shades definitely compliment each other.

Force of Nature goes on so smoothly and blends like a dream.  I am wearing it in the picture above.  It's just a very pretty, usable everyday shade without much sparkle and appropriate for daytime shimmer.  I love it.

Leap swatches beautifully, I love the shimmery lavender tone.  However it does take a bit of work on the eyes to build up the pigment.  But once you build up a few layers it's very pretty.  It's definitely not as easy to work with as Force of Nature and it has more glitter.

Finally I picked up the Mineralize Lip Glass in Poetic.  This is a very sheer glossy champagne gloss with silver sparkles.  I really like the MAC Mineralize lip products-they rarely get spoken about on blogs but I think the lipsticks especially are fantastic.

Poetic is an easy to wear sheer gloss, it's not particularly unique and isn't overly sticky.  You can see my natural lip line shows through when worn alone but it works really well layered over something like Charlotte Tilbury Lip Cheat liner in Pillow Talk for a peachy nude lip.

Did you pick anything up from this line?

MAC Ultimate Collection Lipstick Swatches and Sheer Mystery Powder Overview

MAC Ultimate Collection Lipsticks


MAC has just launched their version of "luxe" makeup in the form of the Ultimate collection, which includes 10 new lipstick colors and Sheer Mystery compact powders. 



The formulas and packaging at first glance look like the love-child between the MAC Mineralize series and the limited edition Marcel Wanders collection from awhile back. And if you thought

7 Great Ruby Red Lipsticks

If you missed my post last week on Dayre, here is a recap of 7 great reds that I'm currently loving.




L'oreal Colour Riche in Bloody Mary




L'oreal Colour Riche in Bloody Mary


L'oreal Colour Riche is a great range for satin-textured, high-coverage lipsticks. And it seems the updated range is also packaged a little better (I haven't experienced any smooshing against the insides of the

MAC Lightness of Being Collection

MAC Lightness of Being (2015)


MAC's 2015 Lightness of Being Collection will be the first collection to usher in the Spring season, and is inspired by the creator of the modern dance movement, Martha Graham. The line features soft, dreamy, spun-sugar Mineralize products embossed in woolen patterns. 













The powder textures - typical of mineral products - are highly shimmery and very

Viva Glam Miley Cyrus

Viva Glam Miley Cyrus Lipstick and Lipglass

One on Christmas Day for all of you!
One of the most anticipated releases of 2015 (at least for me) has got to be Viva Glam Miley Cyrus.



And whether you are a fan of Miley or not, you GOTTA admit this lipstick and gloss kicks @ss. And that's the main reason I'm so excited. I love a good hot pink. And who doesn't like sparkle?





Swatches: Viva